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short sale ’

On Monday October 22, 2012, Louis Cammarosano, General Manager of HomeGain, was a guest on the Real Estate 360 Live radio show on The Big Talker 1580 WHFS AM, hosted by Ryan Sloper.

Listen to the show.

Part 1 (14:37)

Louis and Ryan discuss the direction that the housing market would take if Obama were to be reelected or if Romney becomes President. Louis thinks there will be not much of a difference and notes that real estate has not been a centerpiece of the Presidential campaign.

Louis notes that the government is not in the best position to “fix” the housing market or the economy.

Louis notes that access to increased credit leads to an ability to spend more which leads to higher prices.

Ryan and Louis discuss the impact of student loans on the housing market. Louis notes that young people’s inability to purchase homes puts down ward pressure on the housing market. Louis predicts that fewer people will go to physical campuses for their college education in the coming years but will receive their education online for less cost.

Louis also predicts that the student loan market will collapse just like the housing market did.

Earlier this year, I got a call from a frustrated seller. He had just decided to fire his listing agent and had been referred to me.

“I don’t want to make the same mistake I made when I hired my first agent,” he said. “So, would you be willing to meet with me to see my condo, tell me what you think it’s worth and let me know how you would market it?”

Overpriced + Pre-sale Purchase 7 years ago = “Uh Oh”…

I agreed to meet him the following day because of the seasonal market’s time sensitivity and my desire to get the property on the market asap, if selected to work with him. I warned him that I wouldn’t have time to do a lot of research before our meeting. I pulled the listing history and tax records, and I didn’t like the math…nor the methods.

It Was A Crescendo Of Agent Ineptitude:

Perhaps the previous agent was “nostalgic” or simply “lost track of time”, but he decided to price the unit at it’s original (pre-sale) purchaser price, which went back to early 2006. Needless to say, by the time I came into the picture, it had been on the market for a while…you know the drill.

When Ineptitude Flirts With Negligence:

As was clear in the listing history (but I had hoped was a mistake), the listing “agent” initially “marketed” (terms used here extremely loosely) his property for almost $100k more than the owner had paid for it at the height of the market!! No upgrades, nor additions after the original purchase….I still can’t even begin to fathom where that number came from .

The sad truth was obvious. The seller lived in a penthouse unit in an area of the close-in DC suburbs where many condos were in short sale or foreclosure situations. And this development was no different.

The designations most agents get serve one purpose, marketing. They are trying to separate themselves from the pack to get listings.

Some of the poorest quality short sale education is offered by real estate boards and governmental agencies who were caught completely off-guard by the explosion of homes needing to be short sold.

These real estate boards and agencies move slow, as most large organizations do. So, how can they stay ahead of the Short Sale curve, when they can’t even keep the addendums updated?

I find myself creating necessary forms and disclosures long before my local board comes out with one. If you do the same, be sure to run them by your broker and an attorney if necessary to ensure you stay within professional purview.

The fact that our own professional organizations seem to be slow to keep up, what would make anyone believe the short sale training offered by them would actually give agents a competitive advantage against the financial institutions?

If you are selling real estate in a military market, it’s important for you to know all of the options out there for your seller clients. We’ve recently worked with several Realtors who were completely unaware of the Housing Assistance Program (HAP) that is offered by the Department of Defense. This program can help a military member avoid a short sale, or reduce the loss they have to contribute to help cover their mortgage after being forced to relocate.

We communicated with one military client who had short sold the home a few months prior to contacting us from a blog post – and had zero idea about this program. The program essentially provides loss assistance to those in the milltary that are relocated or moved to another part of the country and are “in the red” on their home.

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